Chapter 10 - Raptors, Raptors and More Raptors!
At the East Camp…
While Billy and JD helped the military pack up the camp, Grant, Josiah, Ellie and the Colonel decided what they would do now.
"Colonel what was our original plan after we finished with the `cage'?" Grant asked.
"We were going to head to the raptor nests" The colonel replied.
"Why the nests?" Ellie asked, so far she had remained quiet and didn't question the colonel's plans but that was before they had lost three of their group.
"We figured it would be easier to destroy the nests and then worry about the adult animals." Beckton spoke as if answering a question asked by one of his men.
"Easy? You expect that to be easy?" Ellie snarled, "Colonel do you have any idea how protective of their young raptors are?" Beckton shook his head slowly.
"Extremely!" Grant interrupted, remembering when Billy had taken those eggs and the raptors had followed them until they got them back.
"And what's worse is you don't know where they will be."
"How much about raptors do you know Colonel?" Grant asked.
"Only what they look like" Beckton replied slowly.
"Raptors are pack hunters; you may come across one and think you're fine. But what you're unaware of is the fact that there are two more approaching from either side and possibly one from behind." Grant stopped to look at the colonel, noting that he was becoming nervous at what the palaeontologist was telling him.
"Were you told about the claw they have on the second toe of each foot?" Waiting for Beckton to nod, Grant continued,
"Well that's about 3 inches long and they use it to either slash across your abdomen,
spilling your guts and intestines or they place their foot over you body and push it down" Grant almost laughed at how the colonel reacted to this, he remembered when he gave a similar speech to a small boy before he had even heard of `Jurassic Park' and the boy had the same reaction as Beckton.
"So let's get packed up and head to those nests then" Grant said and walked towards the others followed by a very amused Josiah and Ellie.
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In the forest, up a tree…
Marco and Malcolm were still stuck up the tree, with two raptors below them. The raptors had stopped trying to jump up the tree and were now just waiting at the bottom of the tree.
"I've got an idea won't don't you jump down the other side of tree and run they'll follow you and then I'll climb down and...run the other way" Malcolm suggested.
"No way! How bout this idea...you do it!" Marco growled.
"Hey I just think up and understand theories I don't actually see if they work" the mathematician retorted.
Marco and Malcolm continued to argue, when suddenly they heard a monstrous roar and Marco nearly fell out the tree.
"What was that?" Marco asked, while steadying himself.
"I don't know, T-rex maybe?" Malcolm replied.
"Hey the raptors are leaving we can get down now." Marco said as he
started to descend the tree once more. Suddenly he felt Malcolm grip his shoulder.
"Don't move!" he whispered to Marco. Marco was just going to ask why when a huge beast emerged from the foliage.
The beast was as high as a T-rex but its body was longer. It had a
long snort with rows of very sharp teeth, like that of a crocodile's.
But what was most unusual was the large sail on it's back.
"What the hell is that?" Marco said in a harsh whisper.
"I don't know, but if it's anything like a T-rex I suggest you don't move or speak until it's gone." Malcolm replied.
The beast stopped where it was, raising itself on its strong back legs, it sniffed the air. Luckily for the two men the wind was blowing towards them so the beast was unaware of their presence.
After a while it stood back on four legs and continued on through the forest.
"Let's get out of here now!" Marco said as he jumped down to the ground, shortly followed by Malcolm, "but I think we should go this way" he said pointing on the opposite way the beast had gone. Malcolm nodded in agreement and they headed off.
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Somewhere else in the forest…
Nic and Blake ran through the forest, not looking behind them or at where they were going. Suddenly they emerged into what seemed to be a rather large dell. Blake stopped and placed his hands on his thighs and tried to steady his breathing. "Can't…we… stop… now?" he gasped "its no…t like we're…be..ing followed!" he finished this by flopping down on the ground and closing his eyes.
Nic looked around them, when she was satisfied that they were not being followed she sat down next to Blake. She pulled her knees towards her and rested her arms on them, her gun was held loosely in her right hand.
"I s'pose we can stop for a while" she said, slightly out of breath "but only till we get our breath ba…"
Blake opened one eye, puzzled as to why she had stopped in mid-sentence. He noticed that she had stood up fast and was suddenly looking very worried.
"What is it?" he said, his voice shaking silently as he stood up.
Nic gestured with her gun, for him to look on the ground around them.
"What the…?" he cried.
"Nests!" she said pointing at the large round nests.
They were surrounded by dozens of nests some with eggs and some with juveniles
in them.
"God! I think this are raptor nests" she said suddenly even more alarmed.
"Ah crap! We have to leave now, adult animals very rarely leave their young for long especially predators!"
"And that's bad right?" Blake said, slowly backing away.
"Well doh!" Nic snapped. Suddenly there was a strange sound, kind of like a coughing sound and it wasn't far away.
"And that's way more than bad!"
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In yet another part of the forest…
Ezra slowly pushed himself to his feet, it was about time he started moving he couldn't stay in one place for to long when raptors were around. Ezra didn't really want to face any raptors again, as he had lost his rifle after the last one had jumped on him. All he had for means of defence was a small knife he kept in his boot and a
derringer up his sleeve, which only held two bullets, not much use against a pack of raptors.
Ezra was walking as quietly and quickly as he could hoping he would reach a clearing soon. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw a small movement, he stiffened and looked around for something, anything he could use to aid him. All he saw were lots of trees and shrubs. One tree in particular had quite a low hanging branch; he
could probably reach it by jumping if he needed to. He heard a snarl from the foliage, oh yeah he needed to.
As Ezra slowly moved backwards towards the tree, three raptors emerged from the foliage and snapped at where he had been only a few seconds ago. As he moved farther back, they split up trying to surround him. However by the time they had managed this he was almost directly under the tree.
'Ah hell! I only need to move a couple more steps backwards' he thought to himself.
Ezra began to formulate a plan, extremely quickly, with a flick of his wrist his derringer appeared in his right hand and he fired it behind him. The bullet landed about an inch away from the raptor behind him and it leaped back a few yards. Taking advantage of this, Ezra quickly stepped backwards so he was directly under the
branch.
"Sorry gentlemen" he said mockingly at the raptors
"But I'm afraid I must leave this little party" and as he said this he jumped upwards, catching the branch in both hands. He had already slipped his arm out of the sling, making it easier to grab the branch. What he didn't anticipate was one of the raptors leaping and catching his right leg with its mouth. The raptor at first only caught the trouser material but as it twisted and shook its jaw it caught the flesh of
Ezra's calf. The raptor was suspended in the air and the weight of the raptor on his leg was making Ezra's left shoulder ache and he knew he couldn't hold on much longer. He kicked out with his other leg catching the raptor just above the eyes causing the dinosaur to lose its grip. With all his effort Ezra pulled himself up into the tree, just before the raptor leapt again and it closed its mouth on nothing but air.
Ezra slumped against the trunk breathing hard. He looked down at his leg and noticed that it was bleeding and that his trouser leg was torn almost right up to his knee. He sighed and got his knife out he carefully cut his right shirtsleeve off, grimacing as he ruined the quality silk shirt. He then wrapped the sleeve around his leg to stop any dirt from getting in the wound and finally he replaced the makeshift sling around his left arm and fell back against the tree's trunk, exhausted.
At the East Camp…
While Billy and JD helped the military pack up the camp, Grant, Josiah, Ellie and the Colonel decided what they would do now.
"Colonel what was our original plan after we finished with the `cage'?" Grant asked.
"We were going to head to the raptor nests" The colonel replied.
"Why the nests?" Ellie asked, so far she had remained quiet and didn't question the colonel's plans but that was before they had lost three of their group.
"We figured it would be easier to destroy the nests and then worry about the adult animals." Beckton spoke as if answering a question asked by one of his men.
"Easy? You expect that to be easy?" Ellie snarled, "Colonel do you have any idea how protective of their young raptors are?" Beckton shook his head slowly.
"Extremely!" Grant interrupted, remembering when Billy had taken those eggs and the raptors had followed them until they got them back.
"And what's worse is you don't know where they will be."
"How much about raptors do you know Colonel?" Grant asked.
"Only what they look like" Beckton replied slowly.
"Raptors are pack hunters; you may come across one and think you're fine. But what you're unaware of is the fact that there are two more approaching from either side and possibly one from behind." Grant stopped to look at the colonel, noting that he was becoming nervous at what the palaeontologist was telling him.
"Were you told about the claw they have on the second toe of each foot?" Waiting for Beckton to nod, Grant continued,
"Well that's about 3 inches long and they use it to either slash across your abdomen,
spilling your guts and intestines or they place their foot over you body and push it down" Grant almost laughed at how the colonel reacted to this, he remembered when he gave a similar speech to a small boy before he had even heard of `Jurassic Park' and the boy had the same reaction as Beckton.
"So let's get packed up and head to those nests then" Grant said and walked towards the others followed by a very amused Josiah and Ellie.
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In the forest, up a tree…
Marco and Malcolm were still stuck up the tree, with two raptors below them. The raptors had stopped trying to jump up the tree and were now just waiting at the bottom of the tree.
"I've got an idea won't don't you jump down the other side of tree and run they'll follow you and then I'll climb down and...run the other way" Malcolm suggested.
"No way! How bout this idea...you do it!" Marco growled.
"Hey I just think up and understand theories I don't actually see if they work" the mathematician retorted.
Marco and Malcolm continued to argue, when suddenly they heard a monstrous roar and Marco nearly fell out the tree.
"What was that?" Marco asked, while steadying himself.
"I don't know, T-rex maybe?" Malcolm replied.
"Hey the raptors are leaving we can get down now." Marco said as he
started to descend the tree once more. Suddenly he felt Malcolm grip his shoulder.
"Don't move!" he whispered to Marco. Marco was just going to ask why when a huge beast emerged from the foliage.
The beast was as high as a T-rex but its body was longer. It had a
long snort with rows of very sharp teeth, like that of a crocodile's.
But what was most unusual was the large sail on it's back.
"What the hell is that?" Marco said in a harsh whisper.
"I don't know, but if it's anything like a T-rex I suggest you don't move or speak until it's gone." Malcolm replied.
The beast stopped where it was, raising itself on its strong back legs, it sniffed the air. Luckily for the two men the wind was blowing towards them so the beast was unaware of their presence.
After a while it stood back on four legs and continued on through the forest.
"Let's get out of here now!" Marco said as he jumped down to the ground, shortly followed by Malcolm, "but I think we should go this way" he said pointing on the opposite way the beast had gone. Malcolm nodded in agreement and they headed off.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Somewhere else in the forest…
Nic and Blake ran through the forest, not looking behind them or at where they were going. Suddenly they emerged into what seemed to be a rather large dell. Blake stopped and placed his hands on his thighs and tried to steady his breathing. "Can't…we… stop… now?" he gasped "its no…t like we're…be..ing followed!" he finished this by flopping down on the ground and closing his eyes.
Nic looked around them, when she was satisfied that they were not being followed she sat down next to Blake. She pulled her knees towards her and rested her arms on them, her gun was held loosely in her right hand.
"I s'pose we can stop for a while" she said, slightly out of breath "but only till we get our breath ba…"
Blake opened one eye, puzzled as to why she had stopped in mid-sentence. He noticed that she had stood up fast and was suddenly looking very worried.
"What is it?" he said, his voice shaking silently as he stood up.
Nic gestured with her gun, for him to look on the ground around them.
"What the…?" he cried.
"Nests!" she said pointing at the large round nests.
They were surrounded by dozens of nests some with eggs and some with juveniles
in them.
"God! I think this are raptor nests" she said suddenly even more alarmed.
"Ah crap! We have to leave now, adult animals very rarely leave their young for long especially predators!"
"And that's bad right?" Blake said, slowly backing away.
"Well doh!" Nic snapped. Suddenly there was a strange sound, kind of like a coughing sound and it wasn't far away.
"And that's way more than bad!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In yet another part of the forest…
Ezra slowly pushed himself to his feet, it was about time he started moving he couldn't stay in one place for to long when raptors were around. Ezra didn't really want to face any raptors again, as he had lost his rifle after the last one had jumped on him. All he had for means of defence was a small knife he kept in his boot and a
derringer up his sleeve, which only held two bullets, not much use against a pack of raptors.
Ezra was walking as quietly and quickly as he could hoping he would reach a clearing soon. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw a small movement, he stiffened and looked around for something, anything he could use to aid him. All he saw were lots of trees and shrubs. One tree in particular had quite a low hanging branch; he
could probably reach it by jumping if he needed to. He heard a snarl from the foliage, oh yeah he needed to.
As Ezra slowly moved backwards towards the tree, three raptors emerged from the foliage and snapped at where he had been only a few seconds ago. As he moved farther back, they split up trying to surround him. However by the time they had managed this he was almost directly under the tree.
'Ah hell! I only need to move a couple more steps backwards' he thought to himself.
Ezra began to formulate a plan, extremely quickly, with a flick of his wrist his derringer appeared in his right hand and he fired it behind him. The bullet landed about an inch away from the raptor behind him and it leaped back a few yards. Taking advantage of this, Ezra quickly stepped backwards so he was directly under the
branch.
"Sorry gentlemen" he said mockingly at the raptors
"But I'm afraid I must leave this little party" and as he said this he jumped upwards, catching the branch in both hands. He had already slipped his arm out of the sling, making it easier to grab the branch. What he didn't anticipate was one of the raptors leaping and catching his right leg with its mouth. The raptor at first only caught the trouser material but as it twisted and shook its jaw it caught the flesh of
Ezra's calf. The raptor was suspended in the air and the weight of the raptor on his leg was making Ezra's left shoulder ache and he knew he couldn't hold on much longer. He kicked out with his other leg catching the raptor just above the eyes causing the dinosaur to lose its grip. With all his effort Ezra pulled himself up into the tree, just before the raptor leapt again and it closed its mouth on nothing but air.
Ezra slumped against the trunk breathing hard. He looked down at his leg and noticed that it was bleeding and that his trouser leg was torn almost right up to his knee. He sighed and got his knife out he carefully cut his right shirtsleeve off, grimacing as he ruined the quality silk shirt. He then wrapped the sleeve around his leg to stop any dirt from getting in the wound and finally he replaced the makeshift sling around his left arm and fell back against the tree's trunk, exhausted.